Family |
Plantaginaceae
Veronica syriaca
Roem. & Schult.
Veronica syriaca Roem. & Schult.
First published in Syst. Veg., ed. 15[bis]. 1: 116 (1817).
(Nouvelle Flore du Liban et de la Syrie, vol. 3, p. 257, Pl. CXXXI, 9 and Pl. CXXXII, 4; 1983)
Description
Life-form & habit: Erect annual, usually 10–20 cm tall, occasionally to 35 cm, sparsely to much branched and hairy, often with glandular hairs.
Leaves: Short-stalked, ovate, 6–20 mm long and 5–15 mm wide, slightly round-toothed, toothed or almost entire.
Inflorescence & flowers: Usually 30–60 flowers in an elongating, glandular-hairy raceme. Fruiting stalks are 10–20 mm long. The corolla is blue with a usually white lower part, rarely entirely white, and 10–17 mm across.
Fruit: Capsule 3–4 mm long and 4.5–6 mm wide, glandular-fringed, with a deep notch extending beyond its midpoint and a long projecting style; containing about 20–30 seeds.
Flowering and habitat
Phenology: Flowering January–May.
Habitat & elevation: Gardens, roadsides and fields, extending into the mountains.
Distribution
Lebanese distribution: Anti-Lebanon ridge, Saida, Beirut, Choueifat, Tripoli, Ain ech Cheikh, Bikfaya, Aley, Abey, Rayfoun, Souq el Gharb, Chemlan, between Jezzine and Beit ed Dine, Antoura, Mayrouba, Bzoummar, Faraya, Akkar mountains, Ehden forest, the Cedars, Hasroun, Mdeireje, Dahr el Baidar, Bcharre, the pass above Jezzine, south of Khan Sannine, Rachaya and Kornet Chehwan.
Syrian distribution: North of Latakia, Banias to Tartous, Haffe, Hosn Sleiman, Slenfe, Kessab, Homs, Kafer Aya, Aleppo, Charrani in the Ghab, Deir Baalbe, Jabal ed Druze, Soueida–Sale, Kafer, Ezraa, Khabab, Qalaat el Hosn, Hadidi, Kisfine, Jabal ash Shir, Jdeidat Yabous and Wadi el Qarn.
Native range: Egypt, Lebanon-Syria, Palestine, Türkiye.